Clerk gives update on plans for MEDSTAR audit

LEE COUNTY, Fla. -

Two months and $30,000: That's how much it'll cost the Lee County to get to the bottom of the MEDSTAR scandal.

Lee County Clerk of Courts Charlie Green is offering a blueprint of sorts about how he'll get to the bottom of a $3-million billing blunder. His audit of MEDSTAR was supposed to be the focus of a Monday meeting.

But once again, attention quickly turned to Lee County Manager Karen Hawes and how public safety administrators have handled the fallout.

For the second week in a row, Hawes was asked to step down.

"We've got to put an end to it. Or you put an end to it and let us move on with placing an interim and finding a permanent," said Lee County Commissioner Brian Bigelow.

Bigelow again suggested Hawes can't handle her job.

And after the meeting, Arnold McAllister, one of the fired pilots, also confronted Hawes.

"I've been putting up with this for a year. I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it anymore," he said.

Questions emerged Monday about whether those pilots were "terminated" or if their positions were "eliminated" because that affects if and how they can file a grievance.

"What I am going to do right now is get to the bottom of it," Hawes said.

As Green laid out his plan to audit MEDSTAR, he told commissioners he plans to start with the finances and work with FAA inspectors to determine if MEDSTAR could legally bill patients.

"I'm having the FAA come down on the 25th. Maybe we can get some stuff there - find out immediately if there was some accreditation problems, which it appears there were," he said.

Green expects the audit will take about two months.

"The purpose of the audit, obviously, is to find out if there were any errors or mistakes in management. Get those vetted out and let county administration and the board see what needs to be done and they can make decisions to go forward with the helicopter service," said Green.

Again this week, EMS Chief Kim Dickerson and Public Safety Director John Wilson were not at the meeting.

Hawes says they're working on a timeline of events surrounding MEDSTAR, which will also be reviewed in the clerk's audit.

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